Free Plain Trouble by Kathleen Y'Barbo

mind I need to make a stop at the sheriff’s office.”
    “No, of course,” she said. “I’ll find something to do, so don’t worry yourself.”
    In his haste to leave the buggy, Joe barely acknowledged she’d spoken. Before she could blink twice, the ranger had disappeared into the sheriff’s office leaving her sitting in the middle of Bitter Springs with a crumpled bonnet and stains on her dress.
    All she could do was hide behind her bonnet and wave to anyone who might recognize her until Joe finally bounded back out onto the sidewalk with Sheriff Bauer right behind him.
    “Think about my offer,” the old sheriff called.
    Joe seemed to be waving him away. “Not until this is handled,” he said.
    “Understood.” The sheriff looked past Joe to make eye contact with Bess. “Howdy, Miss Jones,” he called. “Nice day for a drive.”
    “Yes, isn’t it, Sheriff Bauer.”
    “Give my best to your pa,” he said before giving Joe one last look and disappearing inside.
    “Joe,” Bess said carefully. “Is everything all right? You look troubled.”
    The ranger shrugged off her question. “It’s fine, Bess. Just fine.”  
    And with that they were off, heading back to the ranch the same way they came: in silence. It took all Bess could do not to fiddle with the bonnet strings as they neared the canyon. From the looks of Joe’s expression, he could use another detour and several more kisses.
    Bess sighed. And so could she.
    No, she decided. Any further kissing she did with Ranger Josef Mueller would be done in such a manner that she was neither hiding nor ashamed. She’d learned her lesson during the seemingly endless time she’d sat waiting for Joe.
    A woman worth kissing was a woman worth wedding. And if Joe only wanted to toy with her affections, he’d have to find someone else to kiss.
    As Joe pulled the buggy to a stop in front of her house, Bess opened her mouth to tell Joe exactly that.  
    Editing the marriage part, of course, for a lady would never bring up the subject of marriage to a man, even if she were a twenty-seven-year-old spinster and he an eligible single Ranger with an uncanny ability to silence her with a kiss.
    Unfortunately Pa and a half-dozen ranch hands were gathered near the barn, and Joe headed their way as soon as he lifted Bess out of the buggy and set her feet on the ground. Not even a good-bye did he spare her, the cad.
    “Well,” she said loud enough for him to hear, “Of all the nerve.”  
    And with that she stormed inside even as her curiosity begged her to stay and listen to the man as they threw about words like pistol and arrest warrant.
    No, she decided, as she bounded up the stairs. She could care less what anyone said about anything right now. Joe Mueller had just kissed and fled, and that was an unpardonable sin.
    Throwing open her bedroom door, she aimed for her bed then found it occupied.
    By Tommy Klein.

Chapter 10

    “So the gun was Tommy’s after all?” Alpheus asked as his ranch hands gathered around.
    “It was, and that’s what’s going to get him caught.” Joe offered the telegram to Alpheus.
      “Says here the fellow who was caught with him in San Antone identified a flintlock pistol as Pale Indian’s weapon of choice.”  
    “Guess the fact he was facing the gallows loosened his tongue.” Joe heard a scream and ran. “Bess,” he called as he threw open the front door. “Bess, where are you.”
    All he heard was the ticking of the parlor clock. Then came the muffled noises and Bess’s raised voice somewhere upstairs. Joe glanced behind him and saw the ranch hands bounding up the porch steps.  
    “Wait,” he said then met them on the porch. “You three go that way and cover the back. You,” he said as he gestured to a pair of tall fellows, “one on each side of the house. The rest will cover Alpheus and me.” He paused. “You all armed?”
    Satisfied they were, Joe gave them one more warning. “Keep your weapons at the ready and